AngelBeats! Another World
by Kbarnes534
Summary: This is an original story filled with OC's. It takes place in a new afterlife school and is set in a more American/western Europe as opposed to a Japanese school.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Deadman High

So this is it…..I can't say it was a good life….In fact it was terrible.  
As everything around him turned to black the boy, now lying limp on the pavement, thought about his life, how much had gone wrong and how none of it was worth bull crap now. "Everything I've done, all the time and effort I put into it was just a waste". Everything was black now but the boy still thought about how bad his life and how all of it was just a waste, how everything was pointless all that wasted effort. The boy lay there on the pavement, just thinking. "Wait why am still thinking, how am I still thinking". Slowly the boy pondered to himself, everything still black but something seemed different. The cold wet ground seemed to fade to warm and dry. Still he lay there thinking to himself, as the scent of fresh cut grass filled the air around him. This caught the boy off guard, "wait wasn't I just in the city where's this smell coming from".

"Hey, Hey kid, WAKE UP!"

All of a sudden the boys head started ringing as if someone had just kicked him, He jumped up, eyes wide open and now on his feet he shouted "Ouch! What the hell was that for".

"Well you were just lying there on the grouunn….."The second boy trailed off as he noticed the 1st boy now in shock staring down at his hands slowly opening and closing them, "Hey, you ok" asked the 2nd boy.

"Huh what ah, I'm not sure" now feeling his head "im sure I was just hit by a truck, wait what the hell's going on here where am I.

"Hmmm what's the last thing you remember before I rudely interrupted your nap", said the second boy.

"Well I was walking in the street , I remember being hit by something big, I think it might have been a truck" as he said this he stuttered a little, "I remember flying through the air and landing in the street, and then and then, holy crap!" He stared back at his hands and then to the other boy "Am I dead?" he choked out.

"Bingo", smiled the second boy, "welcome to the afterlife and this" the boy gestured to their surroundings "This is DMH, that's Deadman High for newcomers." He looked at the now seriously confused red headed boy, "don't worry, just let it sink in, come with me".

The confused red headed boy followed the blond haired boy. It wasn't very far, they walked over to the side of the path he had been lying on and sat down on the hill overlooking some sports fields.

"Firstly we should introduce our selves said the blond haired boy, the names Sam, Sam Queen and you are?"

"Ah Alex, Alex Johnson" Replied the red haired boy.

"Well Mr Johnson" Sam started "This is the afterlife, but considering it's a school I've taken to calling it Deadman High. Don't quite know why it's a school but what I do know is that not everyone here is dead like us".

"What?" said Alex a little bit shocked by what Sam had said.

Sam went on "when I first got here I woke up in this exact spot, it was morning then. I sat up and there was this girl with long hair sitting next to me as if she knew me, or I was supposed to know her. Her hair was strange though, it was different, different from other people here"

"Different, different how" asked Alex

"Well" Sam continued "It was what looked to be naturally bright brown but the sun had turned the end blond".

"That doesn't seem that strange" said Alex.

"Let me finish" said Sam, "the tip of her hair had been dyed Neon pink, no one else here has hair like that, anyway I turned to her and asked where I was and she told me exactly what I'm telling you. Then from over there", Sam pointed back up to the pathway, "this big guy with jet black hair called out to her, she got up and called back to him to wait for her, she turned to me a said that I'd better get to class. She also pointed out the main building to me", Sam turned his right and pointed at the large building standing at the edge of the sports fields below them, "that's it, right there, although I don't spend much time there".

"Why" Asked Alex

"Well aren't you full of questions Sam said "Because it's boring as hell that's why and besides it's not like we need it, were dead".

Just then Alex heard a voice from over his shoulder.

"Hey Sam!"

Looking up at the pathway again Alex saw her. It was a girl, a girl with the pink hair.

"Terri! Ha ha how's it goin?" Exclaimed Sam as he jumped up.

Slowly walking down from the path was her, the girl Sam had described not moments ago. She was slim and of average height. The only thing that stood out about her was her hair, however there was something different about her, she just radiated something different, different from Sam but Alex couldn't wrap his head around what.

"Who's the new guy?" she asked in a half joking half serious tone.

Sam glanced back at Alex then back to Terri, "him? His names Alex, I found him lying on the path completely zoned out".

"is he?" Asked Terri

"like me and Mason?" said Sam "yea he is".

Terri walked slowly towards Alex with an outstretched hand "welcome"

Alex reached out and shook her hand, she then turned to Sam and asked "so, what does he know so far?"

Sam looked over and said "just that this is the afterlife and that he's dead, I was going to tell him about the other students when you showed up".

"Hmm trust you to take your sweet time explaining the important stuff", she looked at Alex, "Let me explain some of the facts, as you know this is the afterlife, meaning that you're dead Sam to, but the other students"….

"What about you?", Interrupted Alex, " I'm sorry to ask so abruptly but you, you just seem different from Sam and when he said I was dead he said like him and some other guy but he didn't mention you".

"Ha, observant one aren't you" laughed Terri "it took Sam a week to notice, she sat down beside Alex and a stared out at the setting sun, "The other students here aren't human there here just to fill the environment, in this case the school, there not really people, there more like computer programs, like the villagers from video games, you know Non Player Characters, well anyway"

Before she could finish a shout came from back up at the path

"Shit Prefects!"

It was Sam's voice, at that moment Terri got up pulling Alex with her "come on we have to go now"  
it was only then Alex noticed that Sam had not been sitting next to them.

Just as they got to their feet Sam came barrelling over the side of the path landing on his back in front of Terri and Alex, Terri bent down and helped him up, he screamed in agony as his leg was bleeding heavily, there was no way he could walk on it, turning to Alex Terri shouted "quickly give me a hand" Alex grabbed Sam's arm and threw it over his shoulder, slowly they walked up the hill to the path.

Standing in the path was a group of 5 people, 4 were wearing the normal student uniform however they all wore blue berets had arm bands that read Prefect, the 5th however was different he to was wearing the normal uniform but he didn't have a beret or an armband and his blazer was open blowing in the wind.

"MASON!" exclaimed Terri

Mason glanced over his shoulder with his piercing blue eyes and shouted "get them out of here NOW!"

Turning back to the group of prefects mason said "what the fuck do you want this time"

The smallest of the group of prefects slowly took a step forward looked up at mason and said "This is the 3rd day in a row that Mr Sam Queen has skipped class only to be found here, the head boy would like to talk with him, in private."

Mason frowned and said under his breath "dammit Sam what have I fucking told you about skipping class", looking at the group of prefects now he said "sorry but I can't let you just take my friend like that".

"Then you leave me no choice" said the small prefect joining his group again "Fire!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Office

Mason glanced over his shoulder with his piercing blue eyes and shouted "get them out of here NOW!" and turned back to face the group of prefects.

"let's move" shouted Terri as she and Alex dragged Sam down the hill and across the sports fields.

"What about him?" asked Alex looking over Sam's drooped head to Terri

"He'll be fine, just keep running" she said looking back to the path where the group stood.

Just then there was a flash of light from the path followed by loud distinctive banging sounds.

Alex thought to himself "what the hell is going on here, are those gun shots, shit"

Alex didn't have time to think about that he had to focus on Sam and his leg.

"Where are we going?" asked Alex shouldn't we try and take him to a hospital, or the nurses office?"

"you still don't get it do you" said Terri in a laughing voice "your already dead, no matter what happens to you here in a few hours you'll be perfectly fine again, in fact I'm pretty sure this lazy ass can carry himself by now"

She stopped and let Sam drop to the ground like a rag doll pulling Alex, who was still holding him down as well.

"Get the hell up Sam we really don't have time for this"

"What the hell, he's unconscious" said Alex

"Fine, fine" not only was Sam awake but he was getting up off the ground and standing.

"Wait, what about your leg" said Alex now even more confused and rubbing his head.

"What about it" Said Sam as he pulled Alex up of the ground, "weren't you listening to Terri? We can't die here, still hurts like hell but we get up and move on, I'll be fine just give me a sec"

"we don't have a sec!" screamed Terri Pointing back to the sports fields, "its them"

Slowly walking across the pitches was two shadowy figures, they were prefects, two that had been with the group back up on the path.

"Shit!", exclaimed Sam turning to the others, "Alex, Terri get the hell out of here, it's me they want"  
just then Sam reached down to his side under his jacket and pulled out a short grey object, pulling something from the top of it he turned back to Alex and Terri shouting "Go, Get out of here".

"Ok good luck" said Terri as she grabbed Alex's arm and pulled him towards the building Sam had pointed out before, The main school building.

Turning back to see Sam Alex saw him throw the long grey rod towards the two prefects before diving to the ground, Alex watched as the rod flew through the air and came down in front of the two prefects who both turned to run in the opposite direction however it was no good, the rod exploded in a bright flash of light, Alex watched one of the two bodies fly through the air and come back down not too far away, however the second was still standing. Dust seemed to bounce off an invisible wall in front of him.

"Shit, Fuck you," shouted Sam throwing another grey rod in the direction of the prefect

"Come on, stop standing around!" yelled Terri who was still pulling on Alex's arm.

"Where are we running to? Those guys can stand up to grenades, how the hell can we stop that?" Yelled Alex now pulling his arm away from Terri's grasp.

"We can't stop them, that's why we're running, come on were going to the one safe place in the whole school" replied Terri as she burst through the front door of the building.

The main school building itself was huge, it was 8 stories high with god knows how many class rooms, Alex lost count as he and Terri ran up the stairs and down the hallways, Alex did take note of the close cramped hallways that seemed to wind on for ages, he thought "if we run into one of those guys in here were pretty much fucked".

Terri who was running ahead of Alex came to a large set of double doors and stopped turning to the keypad on the right side and started to enter a code.

"It's open let's go!" shouted Terri as she jumped into the room, Alex came running in as she turned and slammed the doors.

Inside the office was very roomy, more so than Alex had expected, in the centre of the room was a small glass table with writing all over it in what looked to be black marker. Around the table there were 2 leather sofas and a leather chair. On the left side of the room there was a large bookshelf filled with books of every shape and size whilst the right side had a small chest of drawers and a chest that appeared to be locked, next to the bookshelf was another small glass table, on this one there was a Blue Laptop with a strange crest on the back, in fact this crest was spread throughout the room, on the table, on banners hanging from the roof, and on a red jacket that was hanging on the wall by the door. Scattered across the walls were pictures, not of old men in suits or of the school, but of kids. These kids were all smiling and happy, they were all wearing the same uniform, however this uniform was different from that of the one everyone else was wearing, instead of the plain black blazer jacket and trousers that Alex was wearing everyone in the pictures was wearing a bright red blazer jacket, with dark navy trousers, the girls were wearing similar blazers but they were in navy coloured skirts, different from the plain black Terri had been wearing, then Alex saw something that made him even more confused, standing in one of the pictures was Terri, and beside her was the guy they had left up on the path, Mason. Alex looked around and noticed they were present in quite a few of the pictures on the wall, wearing that strange uniform. Alex turned to Terri who was sitting on the leather sofa, running her hand along the table, she was smiling, like the way she was when she had sat beside Alex looking out towards the Sun and then slowly a tear formed at the corner of her eye and ran down the side of her cheek.

"What's wrong?", asked Alex sitting down opposite to her, he looked down and started to read what was wrote on the table, "been good but time to go" Josh, "hope you have as good a time as we did" Clair, "good bye and good night" Tyler Kelly.

"There messages, but from who" asked Alex

With Tears now streaming down her face "there from the people in the pictures, they wrote them here before passing on, there gone now".

"Why didn't you and mason pass on with them?" Asked Alex

"That's simple" Terri laughed "I didn't pass on because-…"

Suddenly there was a loud rattling sound outside the room

"OPEN UP, BY ORDER OF THE HEAD BOY!"

"Shit!" Exclaimed Terri wiping the tears from her eyes, "Here catch"

There was a glint of light reflected of the surface of the red metal object she had threw to him. Alex caught it without thinking, it was second nature to a football team's running back,

"What the hell is this?" looking down at what he had caught he saw it, "where did you get a gun"

"That doesn't matter just get ready" said Terri as she took up a position next to the door, "if there's anyone out there when I open the door, don't hesitate, shoot to kill"

Alex did as he was told and moved in behind the large wooden desk at the back of the room for cover.

Again the voice came from outside "By order of the head boy open this door, if you do not comply we will use force to make you".

Terri now had her hand on a leaver that was behind the door, the Red jacket had been hanging on it so it was completely out of sight until now, "Ha I'd like to see you try" called Terri

She pulled the leaver down, all of a sudden there was a loud creaking sound as if someone was opening an old door.

"Shit run!" Came the voice from outside the room, "What the, Fuuuuuuuuuuck!" the voices seemed to fade as if becoming distant and far away.

"Ok get ready" said Terri as she swung open the door.

There just outside the door was a huge hole in the floor, "wasn't there a floor there" asked Alex just then two flaps started to rise on each side of the hole filling it in once again, "oh" he said, his question now answered.

Lowering his gun Alex walked towards the door and peered out into the empty hallway, "clear" he called back into Terri, walking back into the room Alex examined the gun, it was a simple red handgun with black wooden inlays and grips. Engraved on the left side of the gun was a dragon, its mouth at the end of the barrel in an open pose.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Terri with a smile on her face, she walked over to the group picture on the wall and pointed to a girl in a black beanie hat, "Clair, she always did forge the most spectacular weapons".

"Oh right, here", Alex offered the gun back to Terri who pushed it away

"No, you hold on to it, it holds some memories that I'd rather forget said Terri. She walked over to the big wooden desk at the back end of the room, reaching under Alex heard the sound of pealing tape as Terri lent back up she showed him the very plane looking gun in comparison to the one he held however it Appeared to be the same type of gun.

"What type of gun is this?" asked Alex looking down at the pistol in admiration.

Scratching her head Terri gestured back to the picture, "I think she called it an SFS".

Looking at the bottom on the gun Alex could see she was right, printed on the underside of the barrel was "Browning SFS"

"She always said it was a good gun to start with" said Terri "She was always going on about how well it was well balanced and had some good iron sights".

Alex could see she that she talked about all these people with an amazing smile on her face, when she spoke about them her voice always seemed more sincere and honest, some would even say happy, but at the same time the more she talked about them the more her voice broke tears started to swell in her eyes. Alex decided to try and swing the conversation away from the people in the pictures and to the room itself "so what is this place, it doesn't look like an ordinary teacher's office".

"Haha yea, this is the principal's office" said Terri pointing to the name plate on the desk, "well, it _was_ the principal's office but we kicked that old fart out a long time ago, he operates from the faculty lounge now".

All of a sudden there was a large crash and a huge boy wearing the prefect arm band and holding a shotgun came busting into the room "DOWN ON THE FLOOR NOW!" He yelled, looking towards Terri her said, "You, it's about time you were dealt with" he approached her raising the shotgun to her head, "Bye bye girlie".

"Guard Skill, Distortion"


	3. Chapter 3 Explanations

Chapter 3 Explanations

It all happened so fast, in his head Alex played back just what had happened before his eyes. The prefect, the one holding the shot gun, was less than a step away from Terri when she said it, those words, "Guard Skill, Distortion", it was those words that caused it to happen, when Terri uttered those words as if by magic a faded hex pattern appeared before her, flashed and disappeared, disappeared that is until the prefect let fly a shot from the gun, there was a flash, a bang and blood, blood, not Terri's, she was the intended target, not even Alex's but his own, the prefect dropped to the floor, his shirt tattered and blood soaked, the shot had been reflected off of the hex shield and right back at him, he was dead.

"He's dead" muttered Alex grasping his stomach with one hand and covering his mouth with the other "dead"

Terri who hadn't budged at all said "No shit", surprisingly calmly she however wasn't, infact she was the exact opposite, stiff with fear. Slowly she looked herself over checking to see how well her magic shield worked. When she was sure she had not been hit she turned to Alex who was still standing there holding his stomach, "come on help me get him out of here"

"Hell no, im not getting involved in this, at least not until you explain what the hell just happened" snapped Alex.

For a second there was nothing but silence as both of them glared at each other.

Terri inhaled, as if she was about to say something but then

"YOU", standing in the door way was Mason, his cold crisp voice shattered the silence like a stone on a glass window, Alex hadn't noticed it at the path but Mason was big, really big, his large impending figure took up most to the room in the door way, his head was only a few inches from the top. Mason, stared straight at Alex and raised a jet black sword in his direction, another thing Alex didn't notice until Mason made it clear was that he had been holding two of these, one in each hand, dripping from the tip of the sword was a crimson red liquid, blood.  
"Just what the hell were you thinking" you could feel rage building as Mason spoke, "how, could you let them get in here, how could you drop your guard so much", now shouting "HOW COULD YOU LET THEM GET SO CLOSE TO HER!

"Mason!" exclaimed Terri, "it's not his fault, I told him to open the door, I dropped my guard and I, I haven't told him yet, please Mason, it's not his fault, it's mine".

"Fine" said Mason in a more calm voice, turning to Alex he smiled, "but he still has to learn, the same way we did, haha" he laughed "time to die" upon saying that he threw a sword towards Alex

Alex turned to dodge it and then turned back, "what the hea…." Looking down he saw it, mason had lunged forward with the other sword, now at least three quarters of its length was driven into Alex's chest, Alex coughed, it was unbelievably painful yet warm, blood was now streaming from his mouth and his vision blurred, he could make out Terri move closer, next to mason and looking up at Alex.

"Im sorry", her voice echoed in his head as he drifted out of consciousness "don't worry well explain everything" those were the last words he heard before it all went to black.

"Hey, Hey Alex, WAKE UP!"

Once again Alex had been rudely awakened by the now familiar voice of Sam and a pounding in his head. Realising he wasn't dead he quickly sat up and started patting his chest where the sword had been, "I, im not dead?"

looking around Alex saw that he was still in the principal's office. He had been sprawled out on the now blood soaked sofa, there was a trail of blood from where he had been standing leading over to him, on the chair opposite sat Terri, head down in a very large blue covered book, along the spin in gold writing was "The works of William Shakespeare", Sam was standing in front of Alex however it was clear that he had been sitting in the leather chair as his jacket was sprawled across the back of it, finally in the large chair behind the principals desk was Mason he was inserting a CD into a small red stereo. He lent back as the music started to play, it was a familiar song that Alex had heard countless times in life, Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, other than Sam no one really was paying attention to what had happened.

"Alex hey, earth to Alex, stop zoning out man how ya feelin"

Alex turned to sam and replied "yea, apart from the fact that im supposedly dead sitting in a room with a girl with some sort of magic powers and a crazy lunatic who stabbed me in the chest.

This outburst got both Terri and Mason's attention, "you had to learn" said Terri calmly peering over the top of the book.

"Everyone dose" said Mason still slumped in his chair.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Alex

"Calm down man, stop shouting" said Sam in a very monotone voice, "lemme explain, firstly most who come here don't believe what we have to say until thieve experienced death for themselves.

"Ok" said Alex "So riddle me this, where is this place, Heaven, or Hell?

"Neither" said Sam cheerfully, "well actually were not quite sure, it's some kind of purgatory, the schools huge I mean it's like a small town but it's completely surrounded by mountains, every time we try to leave we end up right back at the front of the school, there's no way out.

"There is one" interrupted Mason, "A way out I mean"

"Mason no" shouted Terri "no" she was standing now, her eyes were wide and tears started to form in the corners, "no, I don't want to be alone anymore, I miss to old days with everyone, we were all happy, even if it was only for a while" tears were now streaming down her face "I don't want to be alone anymore"

As mason got up out of his chair he said "come on T, calm down"

"No!" she screamed running out of the room.

Mason got up to follow her but Sam stopped him "no" he said calmly "let us handle it" turning to Alex he said "come on lets go"

Alex got up out of his chair grabbing the red blazer hanging by the door, his own had been covered in blood so it had to do, both of them walked out into the hall "so where would she go?" asked Alex

"There's only one place she ever goes when she's upset, the roof."

The old metal door to the roof covered in rust, Alex pushed it open, it was evening now, if Alex had to guess he thought it would be around 7.00, 7.30, the sky was clear, filled with stars, the air was crisp, as both the boys walked out onto the roof they saw Terri, she was lying in the middle of the roof looking up at the sky, he right arm was stretched up as if she was trying to catch a star. Neither boy said a word, they just walked slowly towards her.

"Why me Sam?" She said having noticed they were there from the point the old door creaked open, "Why me?"

"What do you _mean_" his tone of voice was different, more loving than his usual calm tone, like he knew exactly what she meant.

"You know what I mean, tell me, why couldn't I be like you, or mason or Alex", She was tugging on Sam's jacket her face berried in his chest, looking up she cried "why couldn't I be human, like you?

In his head Alex thought to himself about what she had said to him before, or at least tried to tell him, but if she wasn't human, what was she? He desperately wanted to ask and find out for himself but he knew it wasn't the right time or place, so he just stood there looking out at the school, it seemed to stretch on for ages, it was dark so it was hard for him to make out where the buildings ended and the forest began. They all just stood there for a while, Sam knelt down for Terri to hold onto and cry into his chest and Alex just standing, watching.

None of them knew how much time had passed but it was more than an hour when the door creaked open, it was Mason. He looked at the scene and said to Alex "come with me". Alex did as Mason said and returned to the stairwell with Mason.

"What is she?" Alex had held on for well over an hour, the curiosity did nothing but build within him he had to know.

"What?" exclaimed Mason

"Terri, just what is she? I know she's not human like us, so what is she?"

"Hmmm" Mason took a few seconds to think to himself then answered, "She, Terri, is an NPC.

"What?" asked Alex

"Well that's not an exact description", stated Mason, "this is a little difficult, you see back when we were in the Battlefront, that's what we called the group of people we were in, there came a point where lots of new people showed up one day, just out of the blue, she was one of those people. Never before had we seen something like this, over 50 people just appearing. We never even thought about how they would be NPC's, NPC's don't notice or comment about our goings on like our not being in class or carrying weapons, they never questioned it, but these people, they did. They could clearly see the guns, they were scared of us, all of them could see what we were doing and questioned, why? Not only that but they all had amnesia, they couldn't remember a thing before they showed up here, it's not uncommon for people who come here to have amnesia, a lot of people hit their head when they die so of course it's not crazy that they would be affected somehow. We thought something was weird but we took them in anyway, we thought that it must have been some big accident or crash something to blame their appearance on. Eventually we put it down to a bus or train crash. For a while everything was fine until one of them died. We sat with him, waiting until he woke up, it took a lot longer than anyone else to long we thought he wasn't going to wake up but eventually he did, we wished he didn't, after he woke up he was different. When he sat up he asked who we were, he didn't know us, he forgot who we were. Next thing he stood up and instead of going with us he said he had to go to class, he had to go to class. We followed him and watched. He just sat there, He's still there now, so are the rest of them, they all eventually died. When they found out some of them found out they offed themselves they wernt able to go on living with us. Others went on until they eventually died, they were NPC's. Something happened to them it made them sentient, but when they died they, reset, they went back to being a normal NPC. After a while they all passed, all of them but her. She's still here, she's the last of her kind, she's, special".

Alex turned to face to door but mason stopped him, don't tell her I told you, ok and don't let her know you know, ok?

"Ok", said Alex "ok"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Calm Before The Storm

Two weeks had passed since the day Alex first showed up in this place, The afterlife or as Sam had so honestly christened it Deadman High. After the first few boring days of trudging through the motions of class Alex decided he had had enough. He hated school in his life, he had no friends and terrible grades, the only thing that kept him going was football and here now he even hated that. Alex decided to explore some of the city sized school grounds. The last few days all he had done was walk the grounds, the first few days Sam walked with him showing him around before he got board of that and went back to napping on the hill by the sports fields, now Alex was alone, free to go where ever he wanted. He was now exploring some of the outer school buildings further from the main school building. He was walking past a colourful building with a sign saying music and arts department when he heard it, it was low, quiet, like it was coming from far off, Alex followed it. It was a voice, slow, soft and melodic. Rounding a corner Alex came into a quad area, it was bright and open with benches spread out throughout. In the centre was a small three tier fountain with a ballerina on top, sitting on the side of the fountain was a girl. She was small, really small, she looked no older than fourteen. She was sitting facing away from Alex with her arm around an ebony coloured acoustic guitar. Alex just stood staring and listening.

The girl had stopped, she was fumbling with some pages, presumably lyrics, setting them down next to her she drew a breath, strummed the guitar and started

"Am I loud and clear or am I breaking up, am I still your charm or am I just bad luck are we getting closer or are we just getting more lost"  
she was steady paced and confident in her singing, she didn't need those pages, she knew the song by heart

She continued "Ill show you mine, if you show me yours first, lets compare scars ill tell you who's is worse, lets unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words"

Before she could continue Alex interrupted "that sounds like a very nice song, did you write it?"

The girl jumped having not realised Alex had been listening, she was scared, cowering behind her guitar she glanced a look at Alex.

"Im not going to hurt you" Alex said hands out and fingers spread "just wanna talk". He smiled lowering his hands to his side he started to slowly close the gap between him and her.

She lowered the guitar, slowly, allowing her face to come into full view.

Alex asked again "That song, did you write it?"

The girl shook her head from left to right, she grabbed her notebook and showed it to Alex, the white page, it was covered in quotes from famous authors and politicians. In the centre of the page was a fist, held up towards the sky, around it was a heart and just above it in big bold writing was the words RISE AGAINST

"Rise Against? Is that a band? They wrote the song"

The girl nodded shyly, her long black hair fell down in front of her face.

Alex now next to her sat down on the fountain, she quickly hoped to the left, still sitting but not quite as close to him as she was. It was clear the girl was incredibly shy.

"Ok" Alex said "don't talk just nod, I'll ask the questions, ok?"

The girl nodded then she flipped through her notebook to the inside cover, she pointed to the dotted line along the bottom, Name: Lana Davis Age:16

"Wow, your sixteen" Alex said surprised, this tiny girl who at full height only came up to his chest was a year maybe less, younger than him. "Well that's a surprise, you look a lot younger than you actually are

"Ha"

"You laughed"

Lana shook her head vigorously denying that she had

Yes you did, Alex said half-jokingly half sternly, "it was muffled but it was there"

Lana's face lit up red with embarrassment

"Ok, so where did you get the guitar, the music rooms?"

Lana shook her head, once again referring to her notebook her scribbled a picture of a house

" You got this from home? Your home?, you do know where we are and what this place is, don't you?"

Lana nodded and slowly wrote the word "Afterlife" in her note book

"So how did your guitar end up here", Alex asked curiously

Lana raised her pencil to write again when they both heard a sound, footsteps. Alex turned and got up off of the fountain, there across the square was a prefect, she had long blond hair that bellowed in the breeze, she was looking towards them but something seemed off about her, somehow different from the other prefects Alex had run into, they all shouted and came running up to him when he had been caught skipping class or accidently flashed the gun Terri gave him, but this girl was briskly walking up to him.

"What do you want", Asked Alex firmly

The girl stopped in front of him looked up and smiled, next she lent to her right so as she could see past Alex to Lana, who was still sitting on the fountain "Hey Lana, who's your new friend? You haven't replaced me have you?"

Lana laughed cutely under her breath, looking up she took in a short breath of air and said "I…I…don't…know."

"Wow, she spoke" Alex was gobsmacked he looked back at the prefect his gaze seemed more friendly now "your not an NPC, are you?"

The girl replied "Nope, 100% human, just like you"

"But you're a prefect" Alex said "why?"

Simple, the girl said "it's so I can cut class without getting into trouble"

Alex stopped, he hadn't even thought about that, prefects get a free get out of class card whenever they want and don't get in trouble, to Alex at that moment this girl was a genius. He looked back at Lana and asked "you know her?"

Lana nodded and said faintly, so faintly that it was barely audible "Mary".

Mary tapped Alex on the shoulder and said "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Alex nodded and they both walked to one of the benches on the outside of the square, they sat under a small tree just big enough to cast a shadow to cover the bench.

"So what was is you wanted to talk about?" Alex asked

"Well" Mary started "Not much I really just wanted to talk, you can probably tell Lana's a little shy, she likes to be on her own that's why I brought you over here".

"Ok well talk", Said Alex

"Firstly I'd like to ask you your name" said Mary

"It's Alex, Alex Johnson"

"I'm Mary Turner"

"So what's up with her?" Asked Alex gesturing towards Lana Who had started playing her guitar again although this time it was a different song.

"I'm not sure, she's un believably shy but," Mary stopped, now smiling and looking towards Lana she said "well just listen to her, she's amazing, I think something happened to her in her life that caused the shyness, hopefully she'll be able to get over it someday".

"She's pretty good, isn't she?"

Turning around Alex and Mary wondered where that voice came from

"Up Here"

Both Alex and Mary looked up to see Terri Sitting on a branch of the tree, who knows how long she had been there listening to Lana, she jumped down and joined them on the bench below. Now all three of them sat there listening to Lana Singing along to her guitar playing.

"Like The Angel" Mary said quietly

"What" asked Terri

"The name of the song, she showed me that book before, I remember the name of most of the songs" Mary said

"How long has she been here?" asked Alex

"A week yesterday" Terri said

"How do you know?" asked Mary, shocked that Terri was correct, "I didn't tell anyone about her and she's too shy to have talked to anyone else".

"Mason has me keep track on people he suspects to be Humans; well those who don't make themselves known to be humans like Alex here."

"Why dose mason need to know if people are humans?" Alex asked interested now.

"Safety", she replied, "If a human is likely to cause trouble Mason likes to know so he can stop them before they do, but also for their own safety, if a Human shows up here confused and scared their mental health could be effected so mason just likes to know so he can be there and help them and maybe help them pass on".

"How do you feel about this" asked Mary

"I think it's a good idea; but I think people should be allowed to choose whether or not they want to pass on, it can get lonely around here sometimes, yea know, and not only that but the prefects are getting more and more violent, it's scary sometimes…" Tears were starting to swell in her eyes.

"Don't…"

Looking up they saw that Lana was standing in front of them

"Don't cry" her voice was quiet and slow but very clear

"Yea" Mary added "were here; and were not going anywhere"

A small smile broke across Terri's face

The group's happiness was broken by a sudden clanging sound, looking over to the fountain they saw a group of 5 people.

"Shit, it's them" Mary cried "Its E-squad"

The group of people at the fountain was made up of three boys and two girls, the clanging sound was made when they knocked over Lana's guitar, one of the girls bent over and picked it up along with her notebook, she looked over at the group and said "Who owns this crap"

The group was silent, Alex looked over at Lana knowing she would not say anything

The girl spoke again "well if know body owns it I guess that makes it trash", she raised both the guitar over her head and in a cold shrill voice she said "Meta Skill, Inferno". At that moment flames erupted from her hand engulfing the neck where she held the guitar.

"NOOOOOOO" Lana cried as she fell to her knees.

"How dare you!" screamed Alex as he drew his gun and let fly a barrage of shots in the direction of the prefects.

As Alex fired at the prefects the largest of the boys stood forward and said "Meta Skill, Quake" just as soon as he said those words a huge rock wall shot forth from the ground in front of the group deflecting all the shots fired. Alex was out of ammo as the wall dropped to reveal the group of prefects in a fit of laughter.

The only one not laughing was the other other girl, the one with snow white hair. She stood forward and shouted clearly and calmly "you think you can take us with just a pistol; your gravely mistaken" raising her right arm out palm open straight towards Alex and his group and said "Meta Skill, Blizzard" like the girl who shot flames from her hand when this girl used her power a flurry of wind and snow shot forward from her hand nocking Alex back onto the ground in front of Terri. Looking up at her holding the distraught Lana he said "Go, get her out of here, NOW!"

Terri nodded and did as she was told "Come on Lana we have to get out of here" she struggled to get Lana to her feet and slowly jogged off away from the prefects.

Mary stood up beside Alex and said "Meta Skill, Crafting", plunging her fist into the ground there was a bright white flash of light, rising slowly from the ground Mary pulled a sword from where she had slammed her fist down. It was silver, starting at the hilt it was wide and slowly curved to a point. Along the blade there was a small gap. It travelled from just below the tip to just above the hilt. Sticking out from the hilt was a trigger of some kind, when she was back on her feet Mary handed the sword to Alex and said "you may need this"

Alex stared at the sword and then looked at Mary, "I don't know the how or why but thanks".

"Click the trigger" Mary said confidently

"What?" Alex replied

"Click it, now" she said

Alex pulled the trigger and from the small gap in the blade came a blast of flames that quickly covered the entire sword from hilt to tip.

"Isn't this from some video game" asked Alex

"We don't have time to discuss what game I pulled the sword from", Mary said blushing a little, "Challenge her to a fight"

"What, who" Alex asked

"Frost, am the snow girl" Mary pointed her out, "she'll be week against your sword"

"What about the others?" Alex asked

"These guys may be a unit; but they hate each other, they'll not interfere, and if you beat her they'll back off, for now anyway".

"Ok I'll do it"


	5. Chapter 5

_**OK GUYS FIRSTLY THE START OF THIS CHAPTER IS AN ATENDIM TO THE PREVIOUS WITH SOME MINOR CHANGES THAT NEEDED TO BE ADDED, NEXT AN APOLOGY FOR MY ABSENCE AS I HAVE BEEN BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND SOME PERSONAL BUSINESS BUT HOPLFULLY I WILL BE BACK TO A WEEKLY POST BY NEXT WEEK.**_

Mary stood up beside Alex, she looked at him calmly and said "Meta Skill, Crafting", plunging her fist into the ground there was a bright white flash of light, rising slowly from the ground Mary pulled a sword from where she had slammed her fist down. It was silver, starting at the hilt it was wide and slowly curved to a point. Along the blade there was a small gap. It travelled from just below the tip to just above the hilt. Sticking out from the hilt was a trigger of some kind, when she was back on her feet Mary held the sword out is Alex's direction.

Alex raised his hand slowly towards the handle of the sword, wrapping his fingers around it he could feel the knotted grip around the steel.

"You've got five minutes" Mary stated boldly

"What?"

"Five minutes, after I let go, after that it turns to dust, got it?"

"Yea five minutes, got it" Alex gripped the handle tighter and pulled it toward him, but Mary still held on, "What's wrong?"

"Don't kill them, I know they deserve it but don't, ok?!"

Looking at the seriousness that burned in her eyes Alex agreed "Ok, I won't kill them".

Mary loosened her grip on the sword and all its weight fell on to Alex, it was light, impossibly light, but he had stopped questioning the impossibility's of this world, they were there and Alex was just along for the ride.

Mary moved back behind Alex and said "Click the trigger"

"What?" Alex replied

"Click it, now!" she said

Alex pulled the trigger and from the small gap in the blade came a blast of flames that quickly covered the entire sword from hilt to tip.

"Isn't this from some video game" asked Alex

"We don't have time to discuss what game I pulled the sword from", Mary said blushing a little, "Challenge her to a fight"

"What, who" Alex asked

"Frost, umm the snow girl" Mary pointed her out, "she'll be weak against your sword"

"What about the others?" Alex asked

"These guys may be a unit; but they hate each other, they won't interfere, and if you beat her they'll back off, for now anyway".

"Ok let's do this".

**_Chapter 5_**

Alex walked slowly towards the group of prefects, impossible sword in hand, "Yo Frost, you and me, I win you guys get lost"

Distancing herself from the group she said "And what if I win"

"You're call"

"Fine then, if I win you come with us, to the head boys' office"

"Deal, Let's do this!" Alex shouted raising the sword in her direction.

Frost slowly came further from the group, there was a flash of light and then Alex felt a strong pull on his shoulder that threw him down on his back. Looking up he could see frosts' imposing figure standing over him, snow white hair bellowing in the breeze, she slowly came down to his level and whispered in his ear "you're gonna have to be faster than that to keep up with me pretty boy"

Her breath was ice cold a stark difference from the mild air of the late afternoon, Alex raised his sword and clicked the trigger, once again a fury of flames burst forward from the blade, frost jumped back not expecting the heat to be so intense, Alex rose to his feet both hands now gripping the flaming sword, he started to close the distance between them at an incredible speed, once again frost had been caught off guard, she wasn't expecting his to be capable of speeds matching her own, Alex swung the sword just at chest level to frost going straight for her heart but at the last second he remembered what Mary had said to him "Don't kill them" it echoed in his head resonating like a church bell "Don't kill them", he pulled back from his swing, he thought had it been a real sword he would not have been capable of it, the sword was impossible light for a reason, speed and manoeuvrability. He could use it to keep her at bay and not hurt her, keep his distance but always be ready for her to strike.

"Why?"

"What?" looking up from the sword he saw frost standing there her blouse singed where the flames had brushed across her abdomen and chest in a diagonal line

"I let my guard down, you could have taken me out, finished it in one strike, why didn't you?"

"I promised a friend I wouldn't, that, and I don't see a need for pointless killing, why can't we just talk this out, were all human after all", then it hit him, the reason Mary told him not to kill the prefects, they were like her, like Terri, Sentient NPC's, if he had killed her in one strike like he was going to, she would have reset, gone back to being a normal student, no memories of her time with the prefects or even the conversation she was having right now with Alex.

She laughed in reply and said "If I lose to you I might as well die anyway, from the look on your face id guess you figured it out, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about? Asked Alex, "I'm not going to kill anyone, and none of us are gonna kill any one like you", Alex lowered the sword and let go of the trigger, once the flames had gone out he threw it to the ground, "All I want is the book, give it back and I'll leave."

"You don't understand, do you?" she looked down her hair fell over her face, "If I don't kill you and bring you in the head boy will kill me, like I said if I lose to you I might as well die anyway.

Both Alex and Frost were silent, neither moved or said a word

"What the fuck are you doing? Kill him!"

Looking up from the ground Alex could see the girl who had burnt the guitar angrily striding towards the two combatants. As she drew closer Alex could see her more clearly, to his surprise she was surprisingly similar to frost, the only difference in them looks wise was there and eye colour. Whilst frosh had dazzling snow white hair and stunning sapphire blue eyes the second girl had blazing orange and red hair with deep ruby red eyes, thinking to himself Alex kenw there was more to these girls than just looking similar.

Frost turned to her and put a hand on the shoulder of the second girl, looking at her face to face she said "No Blaze", The second girl, Blaze squeaked as if she was going to say something but frost didn't let her, she continued "He isn't going to fight me, so I have no reason to fight him, plus he hasn't broken any rules we don't have any reason to provoke them"

Alex could see the rage burning in the second girl, her hair flapped in the breeze like flames of a fire, the heat of her anger towards Frost was heating the air around them, he knew if he didn't say something another fight would have broken out, this time between the prefects.

Blaze turned towards Frost and said "No? You know our orders, bring him in, dead or alive"

Frost looked towards Alex and back to Blaze, she was silent for a minute before she spoke "yea, I know the orders, I just don't get them, he's done nothing wrong and he hasn't broken any rules so why do we have to bring him in?"

Blaze stated loud and clearly "Dose it rely matter to you whether or not he broke the rules, if you don't do as your told he'll come for you, don't be stupid Lexi"

Frost sighed "ha, it's been a long time since anyone called me be that nickname, funny how never used to like nicknames, you remember before we were pulled into all this, ignorance is bliss, isn't it; Olivia?"

Blaze's face grew even redder with anger, "I told you to never call me by that name!"

"Sorry, sis" Frost was using Blaze's rage to her advantage she was pissing her off on purpose

"Come on stop this" Alex stepped between them staring at blaze, "Enough" Alex pulled the note book from Blaze's hand and turned to face Frost, "Can I speak to you, in private?"

Frost nodded and they both pulled away from the searing Blaze who turned and walked back towards the group of boys standing at the fountain.

Alex took frost over to the tree he had been sitting at before the prefects showed up, Mary was there, she stood out from behind the tree when Alex approached

Frost looked at her with a puzzled expression, approaching her she said, "what are you doing here Forge".

Mary took her hand and said," my names not Forge Lexi just like yours isn't Frost, and as to why I'm here that's easy, this is my patrol area, but not only that, in not like you Lexi, I'm human, I always have been, I'm sorry for not telling you.

"Haha" Lexi laughed "I already knew, e-squad aren't like the first Sentient NPC's, we have our memories of our years here, we remember our pointless lives but I don't remember you being in it"

Mary replied "yea I kinda guessed that but I couldn't take any chances"

"Ok, now why I brought you here" Alex was standing next to the tree looking at the two girls, "Fr…Lexi I want you to come with me, you said the head boy would come for you if you failed, you need protection until we find out how to beat him, so I want you to come with me, I, we can protect you" as he said we he gestured to Mary as well.

"I don't know, they'll come after us,

"It doesn't matter, were not breaking any rules, if we stay around normal NPC's and teachers they shouldn't pull anything too drastic, right?"

"Yea come on Lexi, we can help you" Said Mary.

"Ok, but what about them, what about her?" asked Lexi looking towards the group of Prefects

"They won't like it, but that doesn't matter" said Alex "they can go tell his mighty head boy that you're with us now.

"Me too," Said Mary "I've had enough of being bossed around by him"

"Ok then" said Alex, "let's go"

The three approached the group of prefects, both Mary and Lexi removed their arm bands and handed them to Blaze, glaring down at them she clenched her fist. She looked up and grabbed Lexi's hand "Frost! What the hell do you think you're doing".

Lexi pulled her hand away and said sternly "My names not Frost, Its Alexis, use it" she turned to Alex and Mary and the three of them walked towards the music and arts building, the direction Terri had taken Lana.

Blaze took a step towards them and shouted in a half frantic half raging tone "We cant just let you leave" she watched as the three rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight. Looking down she clenched the armbands in her hands and under her breath barely audible, "don't leave me".


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Alex, Lexi and Mary entered the music room. It was old and dusty, like it hadn't been used in years, all the tables were stacked up against the back wall whilst chairs were scattered across the room. There was an old wooden teacher's desk against the front wall just below an old blackboard. Lana was sitting on the teacher's chair that had been moved into the corner next to the window. She had been crying since blaze had destroyed her guitar, her eyes were red and her face was soaked from the tears. Terri got up from the small chair next to Lana's, when she saw Lexi her face turned red with anger, it took a half hour of explaining to talk her down.

"Ok" Terri said, her voice still cracked from anger, "So she left the prefects and now you want us to protect her?"

"Yea, that's about right" Alex replied, although he wasn't quite listening, he was I deep thought, Whilst walking to the music room Alex had contemplated whether or not he should tell Terri about Lexi and how the prefects they had crossed paths with were sentient NPCs, like her, he had decided not to, she herself still hadn't told him so informing her about the prefects would let her know he knew. He told Lexi and Mary not to tell Terri about it and that he would tell her when the time was right.

"So, just why did you join the prefects, and how long have you been here?" asked Terri turning towards Lexi.

Lexi had a puzzled look on her face, she knew she wasn't supposed to tell Terri about being an NPC but she hadn't expected to be questioned about her past, she opened her mouth but no words came out, she looked towards Alex and then back to Terri, she swallowed and said nervously "I've been here now for around 3 years", she choked out, "I joined the prefects because, well, because of the head boy. When I, we, first got here we was confused, my twin sister and I got here at the same time, we died a house fire, anyway when we got here we met the head boy, he explained this worlds workings to us, he gave us our powers he….

"WAIT, WHAT?" Terri exclaimed

"He gave us our powers" she replied

"So it's the head boy himself who has the power to create Meta skills, we always thought it was another human who did it for him, this complicates things"

"What things", asked Alex

"Nothing" replied Terri, quickly she changed the subject and pointed out the curled note book sticking out of Alex's blazer pocket.

"Oh this, I forgot about it" Alex crossed the room to Lana who was still in the corner, she hadn't moved an inch since the group came into the room, Alex knelt down beside Lana and put his hand on her shoulder. Looking at her face he saw something that surprised him, she was asleep, tears still trickled down her cheeks every now and then, gently he placed the note book on her lap and got up, walking back to the door he said "I need some air", looking back at Lana he said "when she wakes up I suggest you guys head back to the dorms ill catch up later"

Alex walked out into the old dusty hallway, he stopped and took one last look back at the room and then continued on down the hallway. Below all the dust and webs on the wall were faded wooden frames around old paintings, Alex thought to himself about his old school, about how much he hated every second of being there. He had always wished for a more interesting life, one without the need for grades or tests, one with music and colour, a life he could be happy with. As he walked he stopped paying attention to where he was going, he drifted further and further into his own mind and his own memories. School was always so boring to him, he wasn't that smart, or popular, he was always bullied for how scrawny he looked and how he liked different music from all the popular kids. They all listened to DJs and rappers, Alex didn't like that type of music, he had always liked rock music. It didn't matter what type, punk, metal, classic it didn't matter to him, that was music, real music, not some skinny black guy talking fast or someone sitting at a keyboard butchering someone else's work, to Alex music meant something, it was more than just noise, it was special, it was life.

He kept walking, he was outside now, walking it the late afternoon sun, he still thought about his past and how he hated it so much but would give anything right now just to have it back, he didn't want to pass on. He didn't want to forget his past, he may have hated it, he may have loathed the fact that he stood back and let it happen but he did, he just kept going on, set in his ways he stayed true to himself, true to the very end.

"Hey Alex you feeling ok"

A voice had broken through the silence, Alex jumped, he hadn't been thinking straight, he didn't even notice where he was. Alex ha came all the way out to the hill where he first meet up with Sam, Terri and Mason. The voice that had broken the silence belonged to Lexi, She stood next to him, Alex said nothing, he just sat there and stared up at her in silence.

"What's wrong" she asked this as she sat down next to him.

Alex could feel a lump swelling in his throat, he swallowed hard and answered "It's nothing really, I was just thinking about the past, back when I was alive"

"Oh", she said "from the look on your face it looked like you were happy"

"I wouldn't be here if I was happy with my life", Alex replied, "It's just here things are different, here I can fight back, here the bullies had the same problems in life that I did, here, I have friends, I am happy, but not with my past life hell that sucked, I'm happy with my life here; and now"

She smiled, then looked down at her hands, "it may have been a terrible life, but at least you had one"

Alex turned to face her, his eyes in line with hers he said "don't be like that, life's hard, it has ups and downs, but mostly; life's a bitch".

"haha", she chuckled, looking back at him she slowly asked "Alex, how did you die?

Alex turned and saw the seriousness in her face, she genuinely wanted to know

She continued "Most people who come here die in terrible ways, it understandable that don't want to talk about it; so I understand if you say no…"

"It's ok, I'll tell you" Alex looked at Lexi. He stared straight into her deep sapphire eyes.

"Are you sure, I..if you don't want to I compl…."

"No" Alex replied firmly, he looked out towards the sunset, he hadn't noticed but he had been coming here out of habit more and more often, he never did anything he just sat and watched the sun set, "Its fine, I'll tell you, like you said a lot of people who come here die in horrible ways, im no different. It was a crap day, the wind was biting at my face and rain pelting my skin, as usual I was late getting home from school, I usually stayed behind for football practice. I was the team's running back. Can't really say I enjoyed it but it made me feel alive, I was able to work together with my peers, it was the one place I felt like I was needed, the one place where I felt appreciated. Anyway we had finished up training for the day and I was headed home. I always walked the same path home, no matter who was there waiting for me. I was walking down the street, my teeth were chattering from the cold when suddenly I felt a large thud on my back. Looking around I saw them. Anthony and his group of thugs" turning to face Lexi he emphasised a large round belly "Anthony was huge" he said "Everyone, even his own so called friends called him Fat Tony"

"Like from the Simpsons" she asked?

"Yea, he replied, he was a little shaken that she knew what the Simpsons were but he didn't intend to ask how. He just presumed that it was programmed into her memories as a popular TV show and decided to move on "when I turned around they were all there standing in the opening to an ally. He came close to me grinning, every one of his teeth were a rotten yellow and his breath stank of alcohol. Leaning into me he said Hey there Alex, what did I tell you about comin around here, I don't have time for this Anthony I replied an pulled away but that only made him angry, he grabbed at my bag and pulled it away. I turned around and saw him throw in deep into the ally. He turned back to face me and laughed haha whoops, sorry about that Alex guess you'll have to go get that, I really wasn't in the mood for Anthony's games, I pushed through the group of thugs and found my bag soaked in a puddle of what didn't look like just water; that and it stunk. Turning around I saw him Anthony was standing in the ally laughing at me, when he had finished laughing he said so Alex whats the mamas boy gonna do now. That was when I lost it, throwing the bag back on the ground I started to run. I ran at my full pace straight towards Anthony, he didn't expect me to be so fast so he flinched at the last second, I jumped and threw myself on top of him pulling him to the ground. I hadn't realised just what had happened yet. Slowly Anthony got up, I stared up at him from the cold wet ground, in his stumpy hand was something pointed and glistening in crimson red. The red was dripping from it. As I focused on it I realised what it was, it was a knife and the dripping red was blood. Blood my blood. I looked down at my stomach, my white shirt was quickly turning red. It was warm, spreading across my stomach. Anthony dropped the knife. He bent down and grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt. He pulled me up and stared me in the face, spitting as he spoke he said you tell anyone it was me ill make sure you die, slowly. After that he threw me to back, I had lost the feeling in my legs so when he threw me down I tripped in an old trash can. I stumbled back and fell into the street. The last thing I remember is the loud roar of a truck engine and the sound of its horn. Falling I watched the world spin around me as finally I came to lie flat on the ground."

Turning towards Lexi he saw a single tear crawl down the side of her cheek, he leant over to her, placing his hand on her cheek and brushed her hair back from her eyes. She looked over at him, meeting his gaze with hers and said no offence, but your life didn't sound that great"

"It wasn't, but it was mine" he replied, these are my memories and I don't want to forget them, I don't want to forget the life I lived, I don't want to forget my family, my little sister"

"You had a sister" Lexi asked

looking up at the darkening sky he sighed "Yea" Alex replied, "Her name was Lucy, she was 6" Alex gritted his teeth "She was 6 years old and that asshole took her older brother away from her, just for fun, that's why I don't want to pass on, I want to remember what she looked like, how she would always be so happy to see me when I got home or how she smiled and laughed when I would tell her a joke, I want to remember that" he turned to face Lexi again, "Even if that means staying here for the rest of eternity" as he said this he stood up and looked away, his voice was breaking and his eyes were starting to sting from holding back the tears "I just….I just want to remember her!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lexi got up and stood next to Alex, he had lost the fight, tears were streaming down his face. Slowly she walked around so that she was facing him on level ground, she was a good half a head shorter than him so she turned him to be lower on the slope than she was, now face to face she embraced him. She held him tight and placed her head on his shoulder. It wasn't long until Alex had calmed down again, he wiped the remaining tears from his face and fixed his blazer slowly they started the long walk back down the path towards the school.

"Thank you"

"For what?" asked Alex.

"For telling me about your life, you're past, it must have been hard"

"Oh, that, yea I think it's just because you're the first I've told about it"

"haha" she laughed "that's probably it…wait so I'm the first one you've told?"

"yea, like I said every time I bring it up to someone else they try and change the subject, I guess it's just hard for everyone to talk about their past", he sighed and looked up, it was dark now, the sky was clear and the millions of stars burned bright, "This place isn't so bad, I mean if you stop and look at it for a second, there's always a roof over your head, constant supply of food and drinks and there's the added bonus of being eighteen forever"

"No need to worry about old age then" she remarked

They kept walking and talking, neither aware of the fact that as they walked they went from being next to each other to holding hands to finally as they approached the bridge to the dorms Lexi was leaning her head on his shoulder. The school dorms were west of the school buildings, the dorms were two separate buildings however sky bridges ran between both on numerous levels, they were large towering buildings, with windows illuminated on every floor, as they walked up to the door they heard a familiar voice

"Hey so where have you two been?"

Turning around they saw the source, it was Terri, she came striding up to them slowly followed by Mary and Lana.

"Oh hey, we were up on the hill"

"Out by the football pitch?"

"Yea"

Lana came slowly walking up to Alex, she had the notebook in her hand

"th…thank…you"

Alex put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I'm just sorry about your guitar, I know it ment a lot to you"

She smiled and shook her head, showing him a page from her notebook he saw a design for a new guitar.

"We're gonna make it for her" Mary remarked as she passed

Lana smiled happily as she closed her book and followed Mary inside.

Alex turned to Lexi and said "Well, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Ok" she said waving as she walked off towards the girls dorms.

Alex opened the door to his room and entered. Turning around he closed it and reached for the light switch, when he found it among the darkness he flipped it illuminating the room in a brilliant white light.

Blind from the flash of light Alex heard a voice "Welcome Mr Johnson, I've been expecting you"

Alex spun around pulling the gun from his belt he took aim in the direction of the voice, his vision was fine now he was aiming at the back of his large computer chair, one he had taken from an old computer room, it had been a teachers chair, he could see the top of the person sitting in the chairs head, their hear was red however he could see strands of bright orange streaked through it, he knew who it was the second she had spoken.

The chair slowly turned and Alex was facing the intruder, it was just the person he had thought it was, Blaze. She was smiling menacingly, she stood up and handed him a laptop she had on her knees, "You may wanna see this" she said menacingly, then she let fly a laugh only a criminal mastermind could laugh as she walked up to the door, just as she reached for the handle she turned around and said "Be seeing ya" before laughing again and striding out into the hall, Alex slammed the door behind her.

"The fuck was that about" he said to himself, he pulled the chair over to the desk facing out the window of his room, sitting down he flipped up the lid of the laptop, flashing on the screen was the classic windig logo that was shown on all of the school computers when they were in standby, he rubbed his fingers across the track pad at the bottom of the keyboard on the screen flashed as the laptop started up, as soon as the screen powered on a video started to play, centre screen was a boy, he didn't seem special in any way particular, he wasn't tall or short, he wasn't fat or overly skinney, he was completely average in every way, he had dull brown hair that was neatly cut up out of his face. He was wearing the prefect arm band however his was gold rather than white and he was wearing a black beret with a gold stripe, he started to talk "Hello there, if you're watching this then that means Blaze did her job, that or you killed her on sight, either way the message was delivered" he paused for a moment and a smile cracked across his face "As you can probably tell im no ordinary prefect and of course am not an NPC, I my friend, am the head boy, my name? That's not important you may call me whatever you wish. Now the reason I brought you here" he drew closer to the camera, it jerked and turned to face a multitude of computer screens, he stood back in frame and said "This, this is the Meta player software. You probably know of the Angel player software I obliterated from the school system, am I right?"

He was, Mason had told Alex about it, it was a piece of software that let the user modify himself, it was extremely powerful, however it had its downsides, firstly only people with pure intentions can operate it, next all of the modifications made had to be for defensive purposes, in other words no weapons. Mason had told Alex that before the previous group of humans left Deadman High they wiped this software from all the computers, all but one, the laptop in the old principal's office. So why was the head boy saying he was the one to wipe it, propaganda he thought

The head boy continued talking "Well anyway, the Meta player software is my own creation, it is based on the Angel player program but it has some major improvements, the first being anyone can use it, of course it's only installed on these computers, for obvious reasons" he sniggered "Next and probably the most important improvement any modification can be made using the software, weapons, attacks, it can even make plane old NPC's sentient"

"What!" Alex pulled closer to the screen

"Now here's the good part" sneered the Head boy "A sentient NPC as you know can't pass on like we can, no matter what there still NPC's and in the end that's all they'll ever be, however what if there was a way we could change that, hmmmmm" he smiled menacingly, Alex knew he was playing with him, the head boy knew about Terri, and Lexi, he knew Alex would want to save them, and that's why he had Blaze do this, he knew Alex wouldn't kill an NPC and that he would want to save them. The head boy laughed, chills ran down Alex's back, he knew he had won, with this he had all the cards, the head boy raised a usb drive into the shot, "This, this is it, this drive has the coding to do the impossible, this drive has the only copy of Meta player capable of turning NPC's into souls, this is what you want, isn't it? So here is what I propose, a simple deal really I'm going to leave all the power down to you" he pointed at the camera "I'm giving you a choice" he spun around and two of the computer screens flicked over to still images, they were student ID pictures, the first was of Lexi, it was easy to make out those piercing blue eyes and glorious silver hair, the other, it was a little more difficult, the camera was moved closer and both pictures came into focus, the second image was clear as day now, it was Terri, her ID photo must have been old, she had shorter dull blond hair, it hadn't been dyed yet, Alex thought that it must have been from before she became sentient. The head boy came back into the screen giggling menacingly "time to choose, witch of these beautiful young ladys live, and witch one dies," he gestured towards the monitors, turning back he stopped laughing, the look on his face was now serious, deadly serious, "I'll be waiting for your response" and with that the screen flicked to black, and the computer powered down.

Alex lent back in his chair, he paused for a moment, he stood up, opened the window and promptly threw the laptop out, it hit the ground hard and shattered, glass, plastic and metal went everywhere sparkling in the moonlight. Closing the window he sat down on his bed, it was a bunk bed, made for two people but Alex, with help from Sam had persuaded the NPC boy to leave, he was a little sad about it but overall like the rest of the NPC's was just passive of most of the things that humans did.

Alex lay on the bed now, listening to the MP3 player the NPC had left behind, Alex thought about what the Head Boy had said, "the power to turn NPC's into humans…..the power to….save them".

"Knock knock, come on man wakey wakey"

Alex awoke to a loud banging and calling from the other side of his door, sitting up he untangled the earphones from each other and threw them and the MP3 player onto the bed, he had fallen asleep with them in, the music was still playing, it was some heavy rock tune Alex had heard a few times when he was alive.

"Yo Alex, come on man get the hell up"

Alex quickly stood up, banging his head on the top bunk doing so, "Ahhh fuck"

"You did it again didn't you?"

Alex opened the door to reveal Sam standing there sniggering to himself.

Sam walked into the room, turning to Alex he handed him a paper bag with the school crest on it, these bags were popular, they were given out when you bought a book or food from the shop and some teachers sent messages in them, "You hungry?" he asked as Alex peered inside.

It was a sandwich, a hot sandwich, the smell of the roasted chicken wafted out and quickly filled the room. Alex walked over to the chair and sat down, looking blankly at the desk the laptop had been sitting on.

"Wassup?" Sam asked

"Huh, ow nothing, just thinking" he pulled the sandwich out of the bag staired at it for a few seconds and quickly took a large bite out of it.

"Ya know, that NPC had a good taste in music" said sam as he fiddled with the ear phones, still playing music although the song had changed, he picked up the MP3 player and started listing off some of the bands, "Guns n Roses, Metalica, Green Day, Good Charlotte, All American Rejects these are all pretty decent bands" he turned to face Alex who had zoned out again "Yo man, come on stop ignoring me"

Alex jumped, slowly he turned to face Sam, he glanced back at the window behind him, the image of the head boy flashed in his mind, he knew he should tell him about it, he knew he should go to Mason and let him know, his mind told him all the right reasons but still he sat, silent.

"What's wrong Alex?" Sam knew something was wrong, again he asked "Alex, What's up man?"

Turning to face him again Alex said playfully "I never thought the afterlife would have such great food"

"That's it, that's what's bothering you"

"What do you mean that's it, this things awesome" he pointed to the sandwich in his hand, then proceeded to devour it with intentional speed.

"You had me worried for a second there bro" standing up he walked towards the door, come on get dressed, we got stuff to do, he opened the door and went out into the hallway, peering back in he added "I'll meet you in the lobby in 5 ok" and with that he left, the door slowly swung shut behind him. Alex still sitting stood up and went towards the window, looking out he saw the remains of the shattered laptop, just as he had left it, "Good" he said to himself, That asshole thinks he can black mail me, we'll see about that".

Alex quickly got dressed and walked towards the door, stopping he returned to the bed and lifted the MP3 player, before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Alex walked at a steady pace down the hallway. It was noisy as it was a Saturday, everyone was fumbling around, in and out of doors, Alex was amazed at how all the NPC's acted. They were all going about their business like any normal person would. In his mind it was still there, the image of the Head boy, holding that USB drive and laughing. It sickened him, he was powerless to stop him, unable to save both of them. The elevator dang and the doors opened, standing in front of him was Lexi, it took Alex a second to react

"Oh, hey, wassup?"

"Oh hi, Sam sent me up to tell you to hurry up"

"What?, it been like 5 minutes"

"Yea, he was kinda in a rush he left but he told me to tell you that Mason wanted to talk to you"

"Oh, ok"

Stepping into the elevator they rode down to the bottom floor, they emerged from the elevator into the crowded lobby Alex noted once again how normal the NPC's seemed when they weren't in class. The lobby had chairs and tables scattered all over the ovular room and along one of the walls there were large TV screens and sofas, it seemed like a normal boarding school dorm lobby, nothing out of the ordinary really. The NPC's were all wearing different clothes, being Saturday no one had to be in uniform, although it was obvious from some of the NPC's that they were still wearing some of theirs like the wrinkled shirts without ties or the blazers over t-shirts, Alex was wearing a plane green T-shirt and a pair of black combats, they were in his drawers, all of his clothes from life were there, well most, his school uniform from when he was alive had been replaced with the Afterlife school uniform. Lexi was wearing a blue top with some band logo he didn't recognise on the front and a pair of skinny denim trousers, she also wore a black jacket with the school crest on the front left side, these were common in all colours, Alex himself had two, one in red the other green.

They walked briskly out the door and down the path towards the school, since it was Mason looking for them there was only one place he could be, the old principal's office. Alex and Lexi traversed the long corridors of the school building finally coming to the principal's office, the doors were wide open and there was a crowd of people standing outside, as they closed in they could here shouting, Alex walked up and pushed his way through the crowd, as he entered the room he saw him, standing having a full blown argument with Mason was the head boy, he was here, of all places to run into him, here, Alex snapped, he charged across the room at blinding speed, hopping over the sofa that had been moved he jumped about to tackle the head boy, just at that moment something ploughed into the side of Alex, using all of his momentum he was thrown against the wall, smashing into it so hard all of the pictures shook and a few fell off, Alex sprawled out on the floor before slowly looking up, he found himself on the other side of the room, standing in front of the head boy was a familiar looking boy, he was one of the guys who was with Lexi when they had first met, He was laughing, now Alex realised what had happened. The boy had stood in at the last second and using Alex's Speed managed to turn him and throw him hard against the far wall of the office.

The boy stopped laughing and crossed the room to Alex, as he reached down to grab him Lexi pulled him off, "Stop this Paul.

Turning to face her the boy stood tall, "how dare you show your face, Traitor!"

Alex now back on his feet stood between them, "do you have a problem with her?"

"Yea I do" he let out a laugh and turned to face Lexi, "This traitors bitch turned her back on us, what's to say she won't do the same to you?"

"THAT'S IT, IVE HAD ENOUGH!"

Mason was standing on the old principals desk, he turned to the head boy, "We'll deal with this on Monday"

"Agreed, 3.45 in the student council office, don't be late. The head boy then turned to the two prefects he had brought with him and said, "Sky, Rock, were pulling out", he then turned to face Lexi, "What about you, if you come now ill forgive your litt…"

"She's with us now, get out!", it was Mason, he had come down from the table and was now standing right next to the head boy, at that distance it really showed how small and pitiful looking the head boy was, mason was a big boy but even at that he towered over the head boy like he was a child of 10 or 11.

"Fine" replied the head boy.

The head boy and the prefects left pushing through the group of students, NPC's and humans, who had gathered outside the door. Mason walked up to the double doors, stopped, took a deep breath and shouted "GET THE HELL OUTA HERE" before pushing the crowd back before slamming the doors. Hurriedly Alex walked up to mason but before he could explain anything mason said "don't worry about it, everyone sit down". Mason returned to his seat behind the principal's desk. Alex stared around the room, there was Mason, Terri, Lana, Mary, Sam and a few other people he didn't recognise, there was a tall boy, his skin was unbelievably tan, he had long blond hair that just hung wild and ragged, he was wearing a red shirt with large yellow flowers on it and torn denim shorts, anyone could tell that this guy was a surfer, he was the type of guy that would look perfectly at home stretched out on a beach with a ukulele at his side. Next was a girl. She was tall and thin with jet black hair that flowed down to her bottom, her bangs fell down in front of her eyes, she was wearing a purple t-shirt with a band logo on it, the same logo that was on the t-shirt Lexi was wearing however this t-shirt was obviously a size too small as it made her chest far more pronounced than it should, that was one of the things Alex had noticed about her, for a girl of her build she had a rather large chest. Finally there was a rather small girl, she had shoulder length red hair and bright red eyes, she however unlike the other students was a foreigner, she looked like she had some sort of Asian descent, Alex had seen this girl around before, he had seen her on a regular basis attending class and eating lunch with a group of NPC's.

Mason cleared his throat and all eyes in the room turned towards him. "Ok, so I suppose you're wondering why I brought you all here, well here it is, the head boys moving in on us, I know I don't force any of you to do much of anything here; but please guys please start going to class, please start trying to make peace with whatever demons are holding you here, this place is only supposed to be a temporary stop for people like us to have a second chance, to make up for something that went wrong in our lifetime, like I said I'm not forcing anyone to do anything but you should all know that the head boy has made threats on lives of those close to us".

The room was silent for a few seconds, then from across the room, the girl with the long black hair started to talk, "why should we listen to him? It's not like any of us can actually die, I mean come on is that seriously his big threat?"

The room fell silent again, this time no body spoke up, Alex knew exactly what mason was talking about. The head boy was threatening Terri and Lexi, I his head Alex wanted to scream it out, tell them all about Terri and Lexi and how they could die, but he also knew how they felt about it, he turned to see Terri standing in the corner, a single tear ran down her cheek, she quickly wiped it away and looked back at Mason, Alex knew all too well how she felt about it.

"That's it, you can go" Mason stood up and walked to the door, he opened it and watched as they left, now there was just him Terri Alex and Lexi left in the office, walking over to the desk he pulled open one on the drawers and pulled something out, from where Alex was standing he couldn't see exactly what, standing up again he said "It's getting a little stuffy in here, Alex come with me".

"Ah ok" Alex replied turning to Lexi he said, "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later ok". He then hurried out after Mason. He followed him down the hallway and up the stairs, all the way to the roof. Not a word was said the entire way.

Mason pushed open the heavy door out onto the roof, the sun was blazing and there was very little wind, "A perfect day, not even a cloud in the sky, well it would have been perfect if it hadn't been for this shit". He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue box. It was cigarettes, a new box that hadn't been opened yet. Pealing the plastic wrapping off from around the box Mason drew two from it, he placed one in his mouth and offered the other to Alex, "The principal is an avid smoker, there's about a year's supply of these things in that drawer back in the office, never smoked this brand before coming here but dam there smooth".

Taking the cigarette from Masons hand Alex looked at it before placing it in his mouth, Alex had tried smoking in his past life but never really got it, he didn't like the idea of slowly killing himself, but what was the problem now, he was already dead right, what was the worst that could have happened.

Mason placed the box back in his pocket and pulled out a plane silver zippo lighter, lighting up his cigarette he took a long drag, let the smoke linger in and around his mouth before inhaling it, turning he then gave the lighter to Alex, "In this shit hole ya gotta enjoy the little things, ya know?"

Alex light up his cigarette, took a puff and answered, "Yea, I suppose you do" he stopped and looked out into the grounds of the school and on into the densely packed forest on the outer perimeter, "Listen, about Lexi"

"Don't worry about her, I already know she's an NPC, like Terri, I also know why you brought her with you today," he took another deep puff from the cigarette and continued, "you want to protect her, just like I want to protect Terri, its them the head boy is really threatening"

"Mason" Alex turned to Mason with a stone cold look on his face, "He sent me a message last night. In it he said he had the power to turn Sentient NPC's into full human souls".

"That little shit, he could do that this hole time? What else did he say?"

"He flashed this usb drive to the camera and said with it and a copy of that meta player software he uses to give the prefects their powers he could turn NPC's sentient and Sentient NPC's into human souls.

"Well then, we'll need time to come up with a plan to take him out, the student council office if usually heavily guarded".

"Yea, I suppose, Wait! What about Monday?"


End file.
